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Law & Order: Special Victims Unit/Season 19

season of television series
Seasons: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | Main

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999–present) is a long-running crime drama, part of the popular Law & Order franchise created by Dick Wolf. The show focuses on the Special Victims Unit, a special squad dealing with sex crimes and crimes against children.

Gone Fishin' [19.01] edit

Fin: [while arresting Byron in Cuba] Buenas dias, pendejo.
[Fin walks into the squad room with Byron in handcuffs.]
Fin: Guess what I caught. A couple of snapper, a sailfish, and one fat-assed flounder.
Carisi: A bottom-feeder, huh?
Rollins: Raped three women that we know about, and then he bolted before we could arrest him.
Byron: Most people just call me Byron.
Fin: [to Byron] Didn't I tell you to shut your face? [to Rollins and Carisi] The whole way home, he's yapping about old times.
Rollins: You were sexually assaulted by an animal, Keesha. That has nothing to do with you.
Keesha: That's what the lady doctor at the ER said. That's what Detective Benson said. What you said. Easy words to say, but you all get to go home at night. The next day, you move on to the next case. Truth is, words are useless without time. A lot of time.
Rollins: We need you to testify.
Keesha: No way that's gonna happen. Things are good for me now. I'm not gonna let that man take up any more of the time I got left.
Carisi: Tell me that doesn't piss you off. We finally catch this prick, and they tell us that we wasted our time?
Rollins: Marks was one of my first cases at SVU, and he still... he still ranks on my top ten despicable list.
Carisi: Makes him a lot scummier than I thought.
Rollins: Yeah, and he was one of the first stops in this investigation, and I... I knock on his door, and... and he invites me in, and he makes me feel, like, completely at home.
Carisi: Yeah, with the fake charm and the...
Rollins: No, but see, that's it. It's not fake. It's real. I mean, he really is that charming. You know, he was so charming, I could have invited him back to meet mom and dad after a high school dance. Yeah, I could have been one of those women. I got a badge and gun. And still, that bastard changed the way I look at the world.
Carisi: An oh-fer. We'd have better luck starting the Byron Marks fan club.
Benson: Well, look, it's upsetting, but it's not surprising.
Rollins: Yeah, I tried to explain that to him.
Carisi: Look, I know. I'm sorry. It's just I'm Italian. Revenge is one of our three major food groups.

Mood [19.02] edit

Carisi: What's up?
Rollins: It's my dog walker. Franny just peed on my new shag carpet.
Fin: That dog pees more than my diabetic granddaddy.
Rollins: You got a granddaddy that's still alive?
Fin: Grandpa Iggy Tutuola. 95, healthy as a horse.
Carisi: Except for the diabetes.
Fin: Where I'm from, diabetes is like a head cold.
Carisi: [about Savannah] She's behind on all her bills. Most of these credit card statements are final notices.
Fin: That's what your twenties are for. Racking up credit debt.
Carisi: Not me, I never paid a bill late in my life. Not even then.
Fin: What? You couldn't handle all the Hail Marys?
Carisi: God nothing to do with it. I wanted to finance a Mustang.
Collins: Look at me. What do you see? A little bit of Brad Pitt's younger brother, right? Around the eyes?
Carisi: Yeah, if I had one too many and the lights were out.
Savannah: Just feel so alone, you know?
Benson: What about family? What about your parents?
Savannah: What about them? Look at me. Exhibit A, all the wonders of the New York City foster care system in all its glory. Fourteen years living in other people's houses, sleeping in other people's beds... you know what you pray for most? A new lightbulb. It's crazy, right? But the other one kept burning out because I was too scared to shut it off.
Benson: I'm so sorry.
Savannah: You know what's worse than being scared? Being pitied. Yeah, I should have told you that I already reported it to other cops. What's the point? People like you don't believe people like me.
Benson: Tracy Montgomery was a cashier who worked at a Chevron station at a minimart. She claimed she was raped at gunpoint by three guys in the storage closet.
Fin: Only the cash register receipts showed she made six sales during the time of that attack.
Benson: So I could have blown it off and I probably should have blown it off, but the bottom line is the truth of what her two cousins were doing to her from the time she was three years old, was far worse than anything she could have made up. Sometimes girls like Tracy, girls like Savannah, need to make up fairy tales just to get through the day.

Contrapasso [19.03] edit

Julie: [about Karr] I don't know him.
Sonny: Then why was he in your hotel room?
Rollins: And why did he leave that room minus his balls?
Benson: Given the nature of the injury, there's a sexual motivation behind all of this.
Rollins: Explains why Karr won't talk.
Barba: I can't prosecute the assault unless the victim makes an ID.
Sonny: OK, well how about we charge the three women with obstruction?
Barba: For asserting their Fifth Amendment rights?
Sonny: After they lied to us and obfuscated our investigation.
Barba: [smirks] "Obfuscate"? Yummy.
Evelyn: You don't understand. You're a man.
Sonny: Listen to me, Evelyn. That man is a predator and he should be in prison.
Evelyn: Yeah, what do you know about it?
Sonny: You're right. I don't know, but I do have a niece. If I found out one of her teachers was doing that to her, cop or no cop, I would beat the living crap out of him.
Barba: Listen, I'm considering offering a deal. Karr does the same four years Evelyn Bundy agreed to.
Benson: You proved forcible rape.
Barba: If she cut off his finger, if she poked him in the eye...
Benson: It shouldn't make a difference.
Barba: We don't live in a vacuum. I can assure you, the seven guys on that jury, they feel Karr's pain.
Benson: And if Karr wasn't castrated, if he had cancer...
Barba: It's not the same thing.
Benson: But it should be. Why do we do this, Rafael? Because the next girl who gets raped needs to know that that person is us. No matter what.
Barba: Hasn't he suffered enough? [pause] I say he has. Jason assaulted Evelyn, Evelyn assaulted him back. That sounds fair to me. Sounds like justice at work. To be just, it has to be fair. I mean, that's what Ms. Rivers asserts. You know, I can't really disagree with that. In purely pound of flesh terms, Mr. Karr certainly gave up a hell of a lot more than he got. Fair? Not a chance. To be totally fair, you should give Jason one of Evelyn's breasts. An arm, maybe. That's only fair. And as we have now decided, that means it's just. Jason Karr forcibly raped Evelyn Bundy when she was little more than a child, but to tack a prison sentence on Mr. Karr's already gargantuan suffering would tip the balance of justice in Ms. Bundy's favor, and hey, there's no way that's fair, so there's no way that's just. A man whose store burns down rushes out, buys some gasoline, a book of matches and sets the house of the arsonist on fire. Hey! It's fair, so that means it's just! A man whose children have been murdered buys a gun and splatters the brains of the killer's children all over their bedroom walls. It's fair. It's just. Why bother with cops or courts? If it's fair, it has to be just! Let the blood flow in the streets, I say! Oh, wait, you don't like it? I say get a bigger pair of boots.

No Good Reason [19.04] edit

Barba: So one of these boys is guilty. It's like playing three card monte.
Benson: Yeah.
Barba: Who has the most to lose?
Benson: I'd say the kid who took the picture of a half-naked 15-year-old girl and texted them to everyone in the school.
Rollins: You know, it might feel good to take control. You know, you can keep a promise to yourself that if it does get bad, you could always do something about it.
Mandy: You don't know how I feel.
Rollins: I know more than you think. You know I told you my name was Amanda, too. Well, when I was your age, I lived in a tiny town in Georgia and everybody gossiped. And I did something stupid and I got a reputation. And it's all I thought about, the names that they were calling me: "Easy Ass Amanda" and worse. It took a long time and I realized what other people said about me, it didn't define me. Only I can define me. And when I was old enough, I went and got this. [shows her a tattoo that has her name on on it] It's my name, Amanda. Just to remind myself that's who I am, not any of these other names that I was branded with.
Benson: Teenagers have always been cruel, but when did they become cowards?
Rollins: Since the invention of the Internet.
Benson: What kind of world are our kids going to grow up in?
Rollins: Whatever we think we're gonna have to worry about, it's not gonna be that. It's gonna be something we never saw coming.
Mandy: I'm a survivor of sexual assault. I felt broken. I was sad, angry, but then what came after, the bullying, I felt like I was underwater, drowning. And I want you to know, what you say, what you say to each other, it hurts. It has consequences.

Complicated [19.05] edit

Langan: Noah's all right?
Benson: Yeah, he just has a cold. But today, of all days.
Langan: I know that this is stressful, but you have got nothing to worry about.
Benson: Then why are we here?
Langan: My best guess? Judge Linden agreed to a courtesy hearing to cover her bases. She's the one who suggested you take Noah, and the circumstances were a little bit unorthodox.
Benson: Just promise me I'm not going to lose my son.
Sheila: The loss of my daughter is a regret I will carry for the rest of my life. I spent years searching for her. I hired a private investigator. I was too late. But thank God I found Noah. I want to be there for him in a way that I wasn't for Ellie.
Benson: He's a child. My child. Not a way for you to alleviate your guilt.
Judge Linden: Lieutenant Benson, please...
Benson: I don't know what her intentions are. She's a stranger to me, to Noah.
Judge Linden: I granted this hearing because my concern is what's best for Noah. I would like to hear what his grandmother has to say. Mrs. Porter?
Sheila: I have no intention of ripping a little boy from the only home he has ever known, but I have serious reservations about Ms. Benson's fitness to parent.
Judge Linden: How so?
Sheila: My PI became aware of Noah's existence from an ACS investigation for suspected child abuse.
Benson: That investigation is closed!
Langan: Your Honor, and it has absolutely no bearing on the validity of the adoption.
Benson: There was no findings of wrongdoing.
Sheila: I understand that there were bruises.
Benson: There were bruises on Noah because I saved him from almost being hit by a cab. I love my son. I would never, ever, do anything to hurt that boy. I want what's best for him. I always have.
Sheila: If you really cared about what's best for him, you wouldn't deny him a relationship with his grandmother, his only living blood relative. I may not be able to overturn the adoption, Your Honor, but I am determined to be a part of this little boy's life, for his sake.
Bill: My daughter used to ask me who I loved more, her or her brother. I would tell her, "How do you choose which of your own two feet you like best?" I loved my Emma. When I lost her, I lost a part of myself. i would have rather lost all of myself than to discover her lifeless body. I breathed into her mouth, I pressed down on her chest, I felt her wrist for a pulse, but there was nothing. And then I saw my son's life disappear before my eyes, before his own eyes. The guilt. No one should have to go through what he went through. No father should have to see his son like that. He loved his sister. I did what any father would do. I couldn't lose him, too. I wish to God every day that it did not happen, but it did. I don't regret helping my son, not for one second. I did not think twice then, nor have I ever regretted that decision. I accepted the plea to avoid putting my wife through a painful trial, and, Karen... [crying] I miss Emma, and I forgive Glen. I just hope you can forgive him, too, and that you forgive me.

Unintended Consequences [19.06] edit

Hackapulco: You got the wrong bro. And that little bit you got me with? Man, I'll be ordering lunch from my favorite gyro cart tomorrow.
Rollins: Yeah? Well, unless they change the penalty for rape, you'll have to tell them you'll pick it up in about twenty-five years, all right?
Hackapulco: There's no way I raped that ho.
Rollins: Okay, so tell them it'll only be about three to fifteen. Because whatever was in that crap you gave her, it killed her.
Hackapulco: Look, I never sold to the bitch.
Fin: The bitch? Are-are you trying to go to jail?
Hackapulco: [sneers] Alright, I never sold to the "young lady".
Fin: But you knew her.
Hackapulco: She was with a dude I did business with. Some white dude. Had a weird white boy 'stache. So what now?
[Benson comes in and shows Hackapulco a picture of the suspect]
Hackapulco: Yeah, that's the dude. You see? I'm a good citizen, helping you out and all. So I can go now.
Benson: While we appreciate how devastated you are that your drugs are killing people... no. No, you can't go.
Hackapulco: Who's she?
Benson: I'm the bitch that's gonna smack your pretty face next time I hear you say "ho".
Barba: Sometimes on its way to "fair", the law misses "right". You wanna do something? Figure out another way in.
Fin: Paternity's back. Congratulations. You're a winner.
Parker: Of what?
Fin: Of a dead teenager and her two-month-old fetus.
Rollins: You knocked up Natalie Curtis when she was released to Altbrook.
Sonny: And then you raped her the night she died.
Parker: I-I never raped anybody.
Sonny: What do you call it when you trade an addict drugs for sex?
Parker: It's not rape when she's begging for it.
Benson: You're preying on vulnerable kids. But what the hell, you made a lot of money, right? You got rich. You're a venal predator, and we're gonna prove it in court.
Barkly: Is that right? What's that trial going to look like? Call your first witness, counselor; oh, you can't put her on the stand, she's mentally unstable. Your second witness? She's no good either - she's a junkie. Next, a liar. After that, a thief. And for the big finale, drumroll, please: a 15-year-old slut who trades her body for drugs. No jury is gonna believe anything that comes out of their mouths.

Something Happened [19.07] edit

Laurel: You know what I remember? When he... That stupid National Geographic special. The antelope going after the cheetah, sinking his teeth into their warm flesh... I was thinking about the animals that got away. You'd think they'd learn, right? But there they are the next day, running right across the plains...
Benson: Laurel, I want you to know that this is a very common first reaction, to blame yourself. But it's wrong.
Laurel: Not to the cheetah, it's not.
Laurel: You can wear a badge and you can carry a gun, Lieutenant, but there's going to come a moment of weakness. The big fish eat the little fish and there's not a damn thing you can do about it.
Laurel: Why do you do this? It's pity, right? You pity the pitiful.
Benson: You couldn't be more wrong.
Laurel: And you're not Jesus! You can't save me! You can't make it go away. No matter what you say, the pain, the humiliation. It's never gonna go away.
Benson: Laurel, I have been doing this a long time and I'm pretty sure that you feel alone.
Laurel: I feel pure and utter hatred. You can't know.
Benson: Laurel, I know all about hate.
Laurel: Really? Did someone force your legs open? Did they lie on top of you like you're nothing more than a mattress and then force themselves into you like a knife? Stabbing your soul over and over and over again? Pity isn't going to bring my soul back nor is false sympathy or whatever it is you're doing right here.
Benson: But your soul's not dead, Laurel, and I think that I'm here to help you understand that. This I know. Your soul is not dead.

Intent [19.08] edit

Sonny: Well, if it's the same Katy Miller, then she's a social media celebrity; Instagram, YouTube, Snap. She's got a couple of hundred thousand followers.
Fin: Thank you, Kim Kardashian.
Sonny: Yeah, sure, make mock, but these influencers are the voice of Gen Z.
Fin: And they're getting rich doing it. Don't people know porn's free these days?
Barba: Why would a guy who gets punched with bare knuckles for a living take a plea deal?
Benson: Because we're going to hit him with something much harder.
Rollins: You know I'm human, right? And human people have sex. Sometimes with people they love and sometimes with people they don't even know.
[Andy has been convicted of rape]
Sonny: That's the end of his career. No one's ever gonna touch him again.
Fin: How's he ever gonna make it with a mere 50 million in the bank?
Rollins: Imagine walking around, everybody thinking you're a rapist.
Fin: He can just move to Hollywood.

Gone Baby Gone [19.09] edit

Benson: Do you know how many times I've told parents to stay calm? You don't know how ridiculous that is until it happens to you.
Benson: I screwed up, Rafael.
Barba: No. This was coordinated, planned, well-executed. Look, there's no way you could have seen this coming, Liv.
Benson: You know what the problem is with this job? What good do we really do? I mean, we come in after the fact with a broom and a mop and we clean up the mess. What would really matter, or would... really be special is if, just one time, we could prevent it from hitting the floor.
Barba: We prevent the next mess.
Benson: I should have seen this coming. As a cop, as a mother, should have seen this coming.
Barba: Well, you...
Benson: What?
Barba: Nothing.
Benson: You can't punch me harder than I've already punched myself, believe me.
Barba: Maybe you wanted this Sheila thing to work out too much. Look, maybe all you just wanted was a family.
Benson: Yeah. What was I thinking?
Barba: That's... why I shouldn't have said anything.
Green: [after Fin forces information out of him] Sure hope I wasn't such a dick when I was on the job.
Fin: Nobody's home.
Chief Dodds: Where is she?
Fin: Probably enjoying a little time off.
Chief Dodds: I heard they found her son.
Fin: Yup. Turns out he was on a little road trip with grandma.
Chief Dodds: And I can assume she followed my order to stay away from this case?
Fin: Last thing I heard, she was at home, waiting by the phone.
Chief Dodds: [skeptically] By herself?
Fin: You'd be right on that.
Chief Dodds: [knowing smile] Glad you're on our side, Detective Tutuola.
Fin: Count your blessings, Chief. [Dodds leaves] Dick.

Pathological [19.10] edit

Benson: Does she know why she's here?
Fin: She's a smart lady.
Benson: She didn't ask for a lawyer.
Fin: Maybe not that smart.
Barba: [seeing one of Noah's toys in a "prison"] What's he in for?
Benson: Stealing all the ice cream.
Barba: I never trusted that elephant.
Mariel: All I ever wanted was to be normal! Now I never will!
Sonny: [to Rollins] Look, you're a single mom. You're a full-time cop. Your life is not easy. And it's okay to say that out loud every once in a while.

Flight Risk [19.11] edit

Chief Dodds: How's the little guy doing?
Benson: He's great. He's stayed up past 10:00 every night this week. And last night, I let him finish an entire ice cream sundae, while watching cartoons, in my bed.
Chief Dodds: And you?
Benson: Well... as long as I don't close my eyes, I'm good.
Chief Dodds: After the military, Mike decides he wants to tend bar at this dive, Lucky's.
Benson: Yeah, in Hell's Kitchen.
Chief Dodds: Before it was chic. After he died, every night for... six months, I'd go into Lucky's. And order one too many vodka sodas. I could tell you not to beat yourself up over Sheila. But if there's one thing I hate, it's a hypocrite.
Benson: Optimum Air knew that Carter raped her, and still they put her in that cockpit with him.
Chief Dodds: Fine. But if you proceed with this case, I suggest you get yourself a big umbrella, 'cause the skies are gonna open up and a lot of federal crap is gonna come raining down on your head.
Benson: My umbrella is... plenty big.
Fin: [entering as Dodds leaves] Want me to cut him? You know I'll do it.
Barba: It's a he said she said, only he's a hero and she's a crazy lady who took a plane hostage.
Benson: Congratulations on the indictment.
Barba: [chuckles] The first thing Optimum will do is make a motion to dismiss. Which they'll win, but I get to appeal.
Benson: And you'll win that?
Barba: 60/40 against. But we got the wheels turning. If this law's ever going to change, this is a good start.

Info Wars [19.12] edit

Cobb: You have no idea what my life is like.
Benson: Doesn't mean that I don't understand what you're going through.
Cobb: Do you people ever stop with the empathy?
Benson: Which "people" are you referring to?
Cobb: Let me guess. You cried tears of joy when Obama was elected. Said you'd move to Canada if Trump ever got in. Yet, here you are.
Benson: I was never going anywhere, but right or left, I want to find the man who assaulted you and make sure that he is apprehended and punished.
Sonny: You know, as long as we're tearing down statues, we night as well cancel Thanksgiving.
Rollins: Don't mess with my favorite holiday.
Sonny: Brought to you by Puritans - religious extremists who burned witches and massacred Indians.
Rollins: Says the guy who goes to Mass on Columbus Day.
[After a bad day at trial]
Barba: You heard.
Benson: How bad was it?
Barba: The Titanic meets the Hindenburg meets my first year of Little League.
Benson: Martha, I am not a fan of yours and I think that your views on sexual assault are reprehensible, but you are a survivor and I really want to help you get justice.
Cobb: Always effective. The inspirational mission statement.
Benson: [sighs] If you're pulling your punches for ideological reasons because you don't have the integrity to be honest...
Cobb: Do not question my integrity.
Benson: Then how about you drop the armor? How about you start talking to me like a human being, not a media personality? Can we do that? Can we... can we just talk? Please?

The Undiscovered Country [19.13] edit

Benson: It is not right that a guy like that goes to prison.
Sonny: Well, the law says it is.
Fin: Sometimes the law sucks.
Barba: I concur.
Benson: Do you think we should lock him up?
Barba: My dad always said he wasn't scared of being dead, he was scared of dying. That kid is dying every day. He's taking his folks with him.
Benson: Nobody's forcing you to prosecute.
Barba: If I don't, I'm telling the world that baby Drew has no rights.
Rollins: What about his right to die?
Sonny: Unfortunately, that's not in the Constitution.
Barba: Okay, let's find out if daddy's little excursion yesterday caused the baby any harm.
Benson: So you can let Aaron go with a clear conscience?
Barba: So I can prosecute and maybe get some sleep in the next decade or so.
McCoy: It must have been tough growing up with "Saint Ben".
Stone: A great man is not necessarily a good one.
McCoy: Did you know he had everyone over to his house the first time you pitched? I thought his heart stopped when that bastard ruined your no-hitter. I think he secretly became a Cubs fan.
Stone: [chuckles] That's treason.
McCoy: That's what I told him.
Benson: I feel so guilty about this.
Barba: What did you do?
Benson: I called you about this case.
Barba: You know, when we first started working together, what was it, five years ago?
Benson: Six.
Barba: The world was an old movie. It was all black and white. And it was high noon. I was Gary Cooper. I was absolutely sure, absolutely, who were the good guys, who were the bad guys. And then you, you started to weasel your way into my world, and the black and white became different shades of gray. Don't. Don't say it. Before I knew it, there were blues and greens and yellows and reds. I'm you now, Liv. You opened my heart. And I thank you for it.
Benson: And?
Barba: I've got to move on.

Chasing Demons [19.14] edit

Dr. West's Attorney: When you went to arrest my client, did he have a swollen face and a black eye?
Cassidy: He resisted.
Dr. West's Attorney: So you smashed his face into a desk and you called him a monkey?
Cassidy: That's a lie!
Dr. West's Attorney: But you do admit you violently subdued him?
Cassidy: Yeah. He was trying to get away!
Dr. West's Attorney: Because you are a loose cannon that cannot control his animal instincts.
Cassidy: Actually, the only animal in this courtroom, Counselor, is your client, Dr. West.
Dr. West's Attorney: So all black men are animals to you?
Cassidy: Oh, c'mon! This is such garbage!
Dr. West's Attorney: So you felt justified to take out your rage on him.
Cassidy: [screaming] So what if I did?!
Judge: Detective, that's enough...
Cassidy: After what he did to that boy, and all the other ones?
Judge: Detective, sit down!
Cassidy: He's lucky I didn't put him in a goddamn body bag!
Rollins: Weren't you wearing that suit yesterday?
Sonny: My, uh, dry cleaner broke down.
Rollins: That's too bad. I thought you might be getting laid.
Sonny: Don't think too much, Rollins.
Sonny: Detective Carisi. This is Detective Rollins...
Holiday: I know who you are.
Rollins: Then you know West was our case.
Holiday: Yeah. It's all over the news how that racist in the D.A. squad self-destructed in court.
Rollins: I know Cassidy. He's no racist.
Holiday: He just gets off on roughing up black suspects?
Rollins: Pedophiles. They tend to bring out the worst in people.
Sonny: Alright, let's concentrate on this murder. We investigated West for the past two years, so if we combine our resources...
Holiday: Oh, I got it from here, and I'd appreciate it if you'd get out of my crime scene before you people screw that up, too. [leaves]
Sonny: [calling after her] It's a little early in the morning for stick up your ass.

In Loco Parentis [19.15] edit

Sonny: So is this where you tell me I'm off the case?
Benson: Officially, yes. And unofficially, don't screw it up.
Stone: Look, what you do working full-time as a lieutenant and being a single mother that must take more energy than I can imagine. And you... what I mean is, you make it look effortless.
Benson: Okay, you don't have to flatter me.
Stone: I'm just telling you how I see it.
Benson: Okay. Carisi's niece is telling the truth. Uh, she may have been unclear the first time, but the second time, I believe her.
Stone: I do too, but she's still an imperfect witness.
Benson: Welcome to Sex Crimes. Look, Stone, there are no perfect witnesses. They leave out part of the story. They can't remember. They feel guilty, change their minds. They blame themselves. They think it's their fault, but that's why we're here. To fight for them. And the less perfect they are, the harder we fight. Look, nobody asks a robbery or a homicide victim if she wanted it. Nobody says, Hey, why was she walking down the dark alley? Why was she wearing the dark skirt? Nobody implies that the crime was somehow her fault.
Stone: I'm just used to having more evidence before I go to trial.
Benson: You have the victim's word. We go to trial so the victim, the survivor can look her rapist in the eye and tell the world, her truth. We go to trial so she can be heard. The truth, that's what heals. If you're going to trial because because you want to win, you're in the wrong place.
Mia: Am I a bad person?
Sonny: No. No, of course not. Hey. The first time I met you, you were three months old, and, uh you wouldn't smile for me, no no matter what I did. You just stared at me. You're very serious, but you were so cute that I started smiling. And then all of a sudden, like like somebody flipped a light switch. Your face lit up and and you smiled at me. That was all you needed. You just wanted me to be happy. You've always been like that, Mia, and I promise you, I'm not gonna let anything bad happen.
Stone: We've all got family secrets, Detective. The important thing is, you spoke up when it counted.
Sonny: You know, you're not such a bad guy for a lawyer.
Stone: I do my best.

Dare [19.16] edit

Sonny: Hey, Rollins, when you were a kid, what was the dumbest thing you ever did?
Rollins: Me and Stevie Harris used to steal our dads' .22s and go shoot cans off a stump, and one day, I dared him to go down to the stump and just hold the can an arm's length out. Dead-eye Amanda shoots a bullet hole right through the sleeve of his sweatshirt.
Sonny: You know what, remind me never to go to the practice range with you.
Rollins: Remind me never to let Jesse leave the house.
Stone: These are medical consent forms, all of them forged by Dr. Franchella. There's 31 of them.
Meredith: She's done this before?
Stone: Yes, and we're considering filing forgery charges against her on behalf of the other families.
Meredith: What's there to consider? She ripped open my daughter's chest and ripped out her still-beating heart.
Dylan: She never even gave us a choice.
Stone: And she clearly violated the law. But there's an ethical question as whether her actions may have saved other children.
Meredith: Don't! You think this is ethical? She stole my child's body parts! What gives her the right? A medical degree?
Dylan: She had no right to do that to us!
Meredith: You bring your kid to the hospital, and you expect them to take care of her. You trust them with your precious baby, and they give her to a vulture.
Stone: When I first came to New York, I spent all my time at the hospital with my father. And every afternoon, I'd go down to the cafeteria, grab a cup of coffee. My father died while I was asking one of the servers down there for some half-and-half.
Benson: That must've been hard.
Stone: It would've been a lot harder if the doctor had harvested his organs before I got back to his room.
Benson: You should've seen the look in the parents' eyes when I told them.
Stone: You did the right thing, Olivia.
Benson: And if that little boy in Buffalo dies because I did the right thing?
Stone: Things are never easy when they're not black and white.

Send in the Clowns [19.17] edit

Benson: [about Haley] Okay, look, she is 16 years old. Best-case scenario is, she met a guy and she lost track of time. Worst case... let's not go there.
Benson: I can assure you that we are doing everything in our power.
Chris: Not good enough. I... I want you to promise us that you'll find her.
Rollins: We wanna be realistic. We ask you to hope for the best, but prepare...
Chris: No, I'm not preparing for anything, all right? Haley needs me. She needs me to keep believing that she's alive. I'm the one keeping her alive. The only one.
Turner: I love her. How is that wrong?
Fin: She's 16, dude.
Turner: She has an old soul.
Fin: Tell that to the judge.
Carisi: Yeah, tell it to her old man, too.
Turner: Chris could never understand.
Carisi: Because most people don't understand child rape.
Turner: You don't have to be so crude.
Carisi: What would you call it?
Turner: Fugue for two voices. A soprano and a tenor fitting together perfectly.
Fin: That line actually works?
Haley: James is my real father. It makes perfect sense.
Benson: What?
Haley: I've always felt this connection. We both love music and art. We're alike. I played the Hammerklavier when I was 12. I knew my father couldn't be a garbage man. I just knew it.

Service [19.18] edit

Rollins: [about a victim who's a prostitute] I've been here, what, seven years? I still don't get it.
Sonny: World's oldest profession, my friend.
Rollins: I understand why there are hookers, Carisi. I just don't get why we give a damn. They... they know the risks.
Sonny: Maybe they don't have a choice.
Rollins: Everybody's got a choice. Besides, there are plenty of women out there who need our help, and more importantly, want it.
Sky: I get paid to pretend I enjoy my work. You get paid to pretend you think yours is important.
Sky: You know, every morning, I get up, look myself in the mirror. You know what I see? Not a damn thing. I'm invisible. Nothing, but after you people started with me, when I looked in the mirror, I began to see a piece of someone looking back at me. You know, it felt good. But now, after being humiliated like that in court, that little piece of pride, or self-worth, or whatever it is you gave me is gone, and it's never coming back.
Olson: So you're saying you were once a woman?
Preston: No. I was always a man.
Olson: But your birth certificate says "female". Am I right?
Stone: Objection. Relevance.
Olson: I'm just trying to establish that Sergeant Preston has been less than honest.
Stone: Your Honor?
Olson: My point is how can we trust a single word this witness says because he's been lying to the Army for years!
Preston: Actually, it's in my medical forms, sir.
Olson: Yeah, but your friends, your foxhole buddies, they don't know the real you, do they?
Preston: I am the real me. My gender identity isn't relevant to what I do. Just as whatever's in your pants isn't relevant to what you do.

Sunk Cost Fallacy [19.19] edit

Rollins: I almost dyed my hair purple in college.
Sonny: Oh, yeah? What were you gonna do? Audition to be the sixth member of the Spice Girls?
Rollins: I would be an excellent backup vocalist.
Alex: Betty Bluestone. It was a case I had about five years ago. Her husband, Mitch, used her face like a leg of lamb in a "Rocky" movie. I filed charges, and Betty fell apart on the stand.
Benson: Case dismissed?
Alex: So the happy couple goes home, and he blows her brains out on the bathroom tile. I did my job, and in the end, all I did for Betty was delay the inevitable.
Benson: So you decided to take matters into your own hands.
Alex: So I started volunteering at a women's shelter, and it grew from there.
Sonny: How many women have you disappeared?
Alex: Hundreds. It's not just me. You wouldn't believe how deep and far this network goes.
Benson: Alex, this is cruel. These women, their... their families, their friends think that they've been murdered.
Alex: No, no, every case is different. In Jules' case, death was the only way Nick Hunter was ever gonna let her leave.
Alex: It is a fiction, Olivia. This entire tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth is a load of crap that we tell people so that they think the criminal justice system gives a damn about them. Who did what, who did what to whom.
Benson: What happened to you?
Alex: I opened my eyes. I opened them wide, and I saw that for twelve years, I was a cog in a holier-than-thou wheel, and the wheel just keeps spinning and tossing off bodies as it goes. Some remain standing, some fall. Nobody cares. Nobody gives a damn as long as the wheel keeps turning.
Benson: And we keep going. It's what we do.
Stone: Any luck connecting Nick Hunter to the accident?
Benson: At the time of the collision, uh, Nick Hunter was at a cafe on the Upper West Side with a co-worker.
Stone: His next mistress.
Benson: Yeah. It's all on the restaurant video, so we're checking phone records, e-mails, financials, but I'm not hopeful. This guy might actually get away with it.
Stone: And receive a lovely parting gift of $50 million. Well, the good news, the civil courts aren't what you'd call quick, and the city's attorneys know how to delay. Still sucks. I know.
Benson: Every second that this guy's not in prison...
Stone: Yeah, well, tomorrow, you and I will get up, brush our teeth, comb our hair, and go after another bad guy.
Benson: Makes you want to oversleep.

The Book of Esther [19.20] edit

Rollins: [about Esther] I can tell she's smart by the biblical connections she's making.
Benson: But it's like it was drilled into her.
Rollins: Oh, yeah, this goes way past the Sunday school indoctrination my mom made me sit through. This is a form of control. It's a way to discourage analytical thinking.
Benson: Or a place to turn if she's lost or in pain.
Rollins: Or scare you into thinking you're gonna burn in hell if you- you wear a skirt above your knee. I mean, somebody's doing this to keep her in line and she's still protecting them.
Fin: You're takin' this kinda personal, Amanda.
Rollins: If I don't, then what am I doing here?
Benson: I know that this is hard.
Rollins: Hard? Just imagine how hard those kids' lives were. And then to have to sit there and listen to that... that zealot use God to justify it!
Benson: I get it, Amanda, but I need you to get your head on straight.
Rollins: Okay.
Benson: Okay?
Rollins: I'm fine.
Benson: Do you think you can do that?
Rollins: Yes.
Benson: Because when this case is finally over...
Rollins: It is over.
Benson: I wish that were true. Preliminary ballistics came back on the siege of the Labott house.
Rollins: That was fast.
Benson: You fired the bullet that killed Esther Labott. [horrified, Rollins starts crying] You know the drill. You'll talk to the preliminary investigators, you'll talk to IAB. And I'm confident you'll be back on the job in a few days. [Rollins keeps crying, inconsolable] I'm sorry.

Guardian [19.21] edit

Sonny: [chasing a group of rape suspects] Hey! Where do you think you're going, huh?
Fin: Pro tip: next time, run in different directions.
Dorothy: I've called a lawyer, Ron Carter. [Carter enters behind them] There he is.
Fin: I heard of him. He's a legend.
Benson: Oh, yeah, he worked for the good guys at the hate crime unit. And now he's every prosecutor's nightmare.
Fin: Let's hope Carisi has a rabbit's foot somewhere.
Fin: Bobby drove Tiana to all her appointments. He also kept his eyes on the road when she had to handle business in the back seat. He has names, dates, and cash amounts.
Benson: On an Excel spreadsheet?
Fin: [handing her a file] No. Pencil and paper. He kept a written record so he could keep track of his cut.
Benson: Did you really just get this lucky?
Fin: Luck favors the prepared. I called in a favor in Narcotics.
Benson: This bust is legit?
Fin: Absolutely.
Benson: Okay, I'll call Stone. You really want to get Malik.
Fin: He's the worst kind of predator. He betrays his own. I mean, his sister really loves him, and he's throwing her away.
Benson: Malik trafficked his mother, too?
Fin: And they're both blaming it on Tiana.
Benson: Man, that family had it rough.
Fin: Same as everyone that grows up in the projects. Some will make it out, some won't. But we all make our own choices.
Benson: You don't talk about your childhood much.
Fin: Back at you, Liv.

Mama [20.22] edit

Benson: So... you weren't gonna tell me? You're just... not gonna show up one day?
Fin: It's not like that.
Benson: It's not like that? I have to hear from Dodds?
Fin: You know, he always had a big mouth.
Benson: I-I thought we were like family here. I mean... you know, Fin, on days when... a perp walks or a victim dies, you know, I look at your desk. And it reminds me that there is a cop who will kick in doors, and... give everything he has without hesitation, and... I don't have to look behind me, because I know that he has my back. And now... now he's Sergeant Tutola.
Fin: I just didn't want to make a big thing out of it, you know?
Benson: The 2-1, huh?
Fin: Gotta start somewhere.
Benson: I'm really happy for you. Congratulations.
Fin: Thanks.
Benson: And don't think you're getting away without a party.
Sonny: Well, when it rains. We got another rape in a convalescent home.
Fin: Wow, weirdos. There's a lot of that going around.
Trudy: [to Sonny] Aww, you're cute, in a very prosaic sort of way. That was meant only in the best way.
Benson: These women, nobody has any need for them anymore. Their... their "sell by" dates have expired. All right, we can't just... leave them out on the curb for Wednesday pickup. So what do we do? We shove them into hospitals, we shove them in facilities, and give them old records and coloring books.
Stone: Show them the flowers.
Benson: The least that we can do is keep predators out of their beds.
Stone: Stop. You win. Let's just hope we get a judge who loves his mother.
Benson: [surprised to see Fin at his desk] Uh... I think you zigged when you were supposed to zag.
Fin: Nah, Liv, I got transferred back here.
Benson: And how did you pull that off? Do I even want to know?
Fin: No, you don't.
Benson: Okay. Well, then, I would like your DD5s reviewed and on my desk ASAP... Sergeant.
Fin: Yes, ma'am.

Remember Me [19.23] edit

[Fin and Rollins are at a country bar]
Fin: And why am I here and not at home playing video games with Jayden?
Rollins: Well, one, Jayden's too young to be playing video games. Two, my rat-bastard ex? He had these tickets, and there was no way I was gonna let him have them. And three, I needed company.
Fin: [noticing one of the band members' interest in her] Company. Seems like you're doing fine right now.
Rollins: I'm just enjoying the music.
Fin: Right. Oh, and my dog died, and my truck broke down, and I'm starting to feel like a third wheel.
Sonny: [on the phone with his sister] Teresa, I gotta tell you, I don't know what you've been waiting for, but the last time I checked, all the billionaires who look like George Clooney? They're taken, you know?
Rollins: We're lookin' for a needle in a stack of needles.

Remember Me Too [19.24] edit

Benson: Lourdes was raped. Her entire being - her past, her present and, most importantly, her future - negated.
Stone: That doesn't entitle her to seek revenge.
Benson: But it does entitle her to reclaim what was once hers. And if revenge is part of that, then... then so be it.
Stone: You don't believe that.
Benson: I do believe the wrong person is on trial.
Diego: Nice bar. You know, where I'm from, we only have two types of vodka: cheap and cheaper. I'm here for a funeral. My brother.
Stone: I'm sorry.
Diego: I loved Jorge. As much as you love your sister, I'm sure. Pamela, if I'm not mistaken.
Stone: [wary] You do realize I'm an Assistant District Attorney?
Diego: That's why we're talking, Mr. Stone. [he downs his drink and grimaces] Mm. And that's why you're gonna drop this case. Lourdes will get deported, and then... our justice system will take over.
Lopez: I'm not a bad person. You don't have any idea. I went to college. I have a skill. But, 10 years ago, who's gonna hire me? Huh? Sure, I could wash dishes, mow lawns. But I'm a damn good programmer, and 10 years ago, no one gave a damn!
Benson: I don't give a damn right now.
Lopez: Jorge said all I had to do was drive a truck. I can do that. Hey, I'm Mexican, right? It's in my blood.
Benson: And the girls were already there, so you figured, might as well rape them.
Lopez: [cold] There are the weak, and there are the strong.
Benson: And you were the strong.
Lopez: Yes! Yes! I can have anyone I wanted. For a thousand miles, I was their God! They were mine until I dumped them in the warehouse and went back to get a new batch!

External links edit

 
Wikipedia
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